


Always the Fucking Woods

by Iceechild



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: M/M, Monsters, Wendigo Hannibal Lecter, Wendigo Will Graham, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22176271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iceechild/pseuds/Iceechild
Summary: I suck at these but Hannibal and Will live in a cabin in the woods. A hero and their sidekick are sent to check out all the mysterious disappearances, murders and stories of monsters surrounding the town. Not all is as it seems, though.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. I Don't Like This

Dulce hated the name she was called, hated waiting on the pompous asshole everyone else called hero but what could she do. Nobody cares about the sidekick, she just had to do all the work and then disappear to heal all her wounds while HE took all the credit. "DULCE!!!!! You ungrateful piece of dirt get down here, we are leaving to deal with the Montana monster issue!!" The gruff shout pulling her out of her musings and she contemplates ignoring his hung-over shouting but shutters at the thought of him saying her true name again to force her to do it so she gets up.

"Yes, your highness, whatever you say your highness." She grumbles as she trudges down the stairs of his house and grabs the keys to the car off the hook when he grabs her paling arm roughly.

"You screw this one up like you did the El Paso Chupacabra case, and that punishment will look like a reward in comparison." He growls lowly, bruising her and filling her senses with the smell of whiskey. Nodding minutely, she wrenches her arm away from him and grabs her water bottle full of fresh spring water. Taking a large swig, she regains some of her color and her silver eyes regain their aquatic glimmer. Releasing one last breath she follows him out to his brand-new Jag, before they are speeding away from his Colorado home for the last time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pulling up to the what appears to be a dusty old ghost town, Dulce climbs out of the car, bottle hidden in her pack and she leaves Cassian in the Jag. Meandering over to what appears to be city hall, she walks in and is greeted by a tired young lady behind a tiny, beaten up desk. "Can I help you?" The tired question leaves her wishing for her home in Ireland before she shakes it off and focuses on the situation at hand.

"Yes, my partner and I were called up here to handle your monster issue." A nervous laugh betraying her fake confidence, she could feel the itch that came with trespassing on another monsters territory but this burned which meant this was a predator, something far older than she really wanted to be messing with.

"Oh," the almost scared gasp catches her attention and young lady becomes far more awake than looks comfortable. "Let-let me go get the Mayor, and I'll be right back." Nodding Dulce decides to text the lazy bum that she has to listen to, and rolls her shoulders carefully, hearing the rasp of her drying skin rubbing against the clothes. Hissing softly, she pulls her bottle out of her pack and drinks as much as she can before he gets into the building. Hiding the bottle again, she steps back once he reaches the receptionists desk and watches their surroundings wearily.

Cold amber eyes watch the fey thin girl wearily from his peripheral vision as she slinks into the shadows, obeying his order to let him take all the limelight, to a point. Rolling his eyes, he plasters a big million dollar smile on his face as the Mayor and secretary approach them with a pair of locals. “Thank you for coming so quickly Mr. Cassian.” The portly an greets him animatedly, shaking his hand for longer really necessary, and Dulce spies one of the locals eyeing Cassian with disgust before plastering a smile on when he and his friend are introduced.

“It’s no trouble really Mr. Warrick, my associate and I will be happy to help you.” The answer doubling as a command for her to stop skulking around in the shadows and act civilized. Plastering a fake sweet smile on her face she obeys with a graceful nod to the men as she steps up next to him but staying slightly behind him. Dulce listens to the men talk with half an ear more interested in watching how the two locals seem to fidget in their skin and the darker haired one seems to catch onto her watching and stares right back. The edges of her lips flicker up in amusement when she gets caught but soon they are nodding and parting ways. “Get in the car we’ll deal with their issue in the morning but first we have to go to a town meeting where they will fill us in.”

Nodding she ignores the fact that this is what he says literally every time they are on a ‘case’ and that he looks far to happy this time around. His mood soon plummets as they approach the meeting spot and they realize just how small this town is that they are meeting in the school’s cafeteria. Silver eyes roll loudly as she leans against the wall, in the shadows of the make shift conference room waiting for them to hurry up and get this meeting over with. They had been filling them in for 3 hours on all the sighting and odd goings-on that have occurred. She knew Cassian wasn’t even paying the villagers any attention anymore but she was the sidekick, the servant, what could she possibly do. As the villagers finally begin to leave, he turns to her and glares at where she has hidden herself away and snaps impatiently at her. “Come on little witch,” he snaps impatiently at her, yanking her around and layering another bruise across the ones already spanning her shoulders and upper arms. “Dulce remember who you belong to, I’m rather sick of telling you not to look at anyone else.”

The growled order and threat gains no response from the unimpressed magic wielder and naiad, only staying by his side because of the pact her father had signed to give her to him. Hating the man with her very being, but saving him over and over again, because if he died so would she. “Yes, sir.” The breath leaves her curling lips as they step up to the car and climbing in to it and driving to the local inn. Ignoring how he sneers at her and the inn keeper eyeing her as if knowing what she really was, under the skin. Sighing tiredly, she carries his bags of gear and clothes up to their room and how he refuses to carry anything. Groaning she watches him drink water and exaggerate every gulp, just to bother her since she couldn’t drink any right now. Finally, the elevator, reaches their floor, opening up to faded pink walls and an off-cream carpet that had seen better days. Shaking her head in annoyance she carries everything to their door and then goes back to where he has stepped onto a clean spot. Eyeing the man with distaste she turns and feels the taller man jump up and onto her back. Almost toppling onto the floor, she stays standing and waddles over to the door and he swipes it so she can open the door. 

Setting the asshole down inside the room she grabs the bags and stumbles into the room, setting them on the second bed. Feeling how his eyes run over her body, she purposefully flashes her cracking skin, like she’s close to collapse from running out of water. Which she was but she exaggerated it a little to hopefully keep him from trying anything in this disgusting hotel room. The sheets stained yellow and off-white, stinking of sex and other foul body-odor, bothering her more sensitive sense of smell. Pinching her lips, she waits and watches his mouth twist, skin blanch and how he shutters at the sight of her when her magic slips. His arm flings out and dismisses her to the bathroom, where she locks the door behind her, keeping him out of the little sanctuary.

Eyeing the tacky decor with distaste she shutter at the thought of what she had almost gone through again. Shaking those thoughts away she looks over the tub and sighs because it will have to do for now. Quickly turning the cold water on she lets the sound of the rushing water send her back a little to how it feels to swim in the rivers of her homeland. Smiling brightly, she quickly strips and slips into the bath and turns the water off before it can go over the rim of the tub. Slowly shifting and melting into the water, she relishes in feeling this little bit of freedom gives her and how it feels to be in her own skin after so long. She lets the sound of the water, their story lull her to sleep before too long, and forgets about the outside world for a little while.


	2. It's Always in the Woods

An unintentional whine leaves her lips as she blearily wakes up to the sound of shouting and someone, Cassian, banging on the door telling her to wake up and get her skinny ass out here. Grumbling about stupid, impatient assholes, she climbs out and shivers as she slips back to her full human appearance. Riffling through her bag, she pulls out one of her hunting outfits, and laces her boots up before opening the door and catching his fist before it can hit her in the face. Glaring down at her, he growls and shoves her out-of-the-way and uses the bathroom before they leave. Pulling out her bottle she drinks the last of it before he comes out and she hides the bottle again. Groaning she eyes him as he watches her imperiously and motions for her to get on with it. Slowly she trudges out of the room with him and his gear on her back, and into the elevator where he jumps off and acts like nothing happened when the other occupant eyes the two wearily.

Smiling softly, she tries to sooth the elderly ladies fears before he can say anything but is stopped when he apologizes for her starring and tells the older lady how Dulce wasn’t use to humans. The looks earn her a cuffing to the ear and is shoved to the floor as he leaves, but she spies the older lady sneering not at her but him and sending her a sad smile. When their eyes meet her eyes become galaxies and she transforms into a young lady, winking the older lady.... the shapeshifter sashays away.

Blinking minutely, she tumbles out of the elevator and trails after an impatient Cassian, who is waiting outside the dining hall. Sitting down where he tells her to, she sits and waits until he comes back with two plates full of food. Hers piled high with dry toast and salty, burnt bacon, all meant to pull the water from her, and irritate her stomach. Eyeing the salty meat with distaste she sighs and eats it anyway, choking down each charred bite. She can feel as the moisture leaves her mouth and how her stomach begins roiling in retaliation, and he watches her suffer through each bite with distinct pleasure.

After suffering through breakfast, she drags herself to the car with him and climbs into the driver’s seat. Silently she drives them to the edge of the woods and they see the locals from City Hall, who eye the pair wearily. Dulce forces herself not to run from the aura emanating from the forest and the silent duo, as they approach them.

“Be careful- no man that has gone in there has ever come back alive.” The darker haired man warns them, glaring daggers at Cassian as he rudely stalks past, off into the forest and refuses to acknowledge the duo. Sighing, Dulce smiles apologetically at the two before thanking them for the advice.

“Good thing I’m not a man then.” She chuckles before saying good-bye and running off after the man before he realized that she had not stuck to his side like a lost puppy. Today was not her day as when she caught up to him, he was leaned far to casually against the tree and watches her approach lazily.

Han’s Pov:

“Capture her first, we’ll see how he reacts to having his little lap dog stolen.” I murmur to Will, waiting until the intruders are out of hearing range. He nods slowly but something is bothering my mate, I raise an eyebrow but he shakes his head. Sighing I nod, and we head after the duo, to begin the end of the hunters. Following a trail of broken branches, Will and I share a look at the disrespect being shown to our home.

“I only smell him on the trees, her scent is fainter.” Will muses softly, contemptibly as he crouches next to a bush that had been sloppily healed. “This though, I don’t think she’s completely human. It smells too much like fresh water, like fresh rain.” Nodding I tilt my head and go through what fit that smell, before looking over to a nearby lake and smiling.

Alana would know if another walked in here, waving Will over I head over to her lake. “Alana!” She pops up out of the water and eyes us wearily before nodding and waiting for me to continue. “Is there another here in the woods?” I ask as she comes closer and Will heads off to keep an eye on our guests. She comes onto the shore before closing her eyes and nods slowly, after a while.

“There is a young naiad here in the woods, she isn’t well Hannibal. Whoever she is with isn’t her friend, he is more like an owner than anything. He probably has her true name, Hannibal....she's dying” She whispers, her voice smooth as a stream but there is an edge like oncoming rapids. Nodding I thank her before disappearing into the dark of the woods, and feel the darkness engulf me.

Third Person POV:

“What took you so long, rat?” He asks her and waits for her to stammer out an answer but nothing comes from the thin girls’ lips. Sneering cruelly, he shoves past her and they trek further into the forest. After a few horrendous hours, they come to a clearing with a few strands of light peeking through the all-encompassing darkness.

“I don’t like this,” Dulce murmurs under her breath as she tries to avoid stepping to close to any of the light. Watching how the shadows around the edge of the clearing move languidly like the shoulders of a creeping wolf. The comment earns her a hard slap, breaking the skin of her lip and she fights back a snarl as more liquid leaves her already dehydrated form.

His cold amber eyes run up and down her body, dragging her soul out to be seen as he circles her like a predator. Pulling her knife from it’s sheath at her thigh, he runs the point up her arm softly, before stabbing it into her side. “No healing yourself, you are my bait,” the whisper burns her ear before he stepping back and lets her wobble. “Stay here dirt.” The sneer ruining what could be a handsome face, nodding stiffly she stumbles forwards into a tree and hears him stalk away to hide. Barring her teeth in annoyance she does all she can to heal the skin but leave the internal wounds so she is technically listening and it won’t actually hurt her because of her parentage. Turning so that she can see her surroundings she closes her eyes, reaching out to touch the minds of the creatures around her. Hoping to find some little fawn to help her get to a lake or stream, but finding nothing. Instead brushing against a dark presence before feeling sharp claws wrap around her throat, her eyes open slowly, she is meet with the sight of an elder wendigo. Tall midnight black limbs blocking her vision of anything else, towering antlers brushing the leaves of the trees stories above them. An pure milk-white eyes staring emptily down at her, she can feel as the hand and claws around her neck tighten and begin piercing her skin. Suddenly it stops as a smaller one erupts from the bushes and begins growling at the other. Soon she is slipping down the tree onto the forest floor and into a healing sleep.


	3. Finding a Family

“She’s dying from dehydration” The hiss wakes her from the latest bought of healing sleep she has fallen into. She can feel the Sahara heat burning in her throat, causing her to tear up and lose what little water she has in her body. Her skin coarser than sandpaper, with cracks like an earthquake destroyed city and skin thinner than parchment, as she carefully sits up. Her movements causing loud cracks, and pops like the sound of dried wood breaking, to erupt from her limbs, alerting her captures that she was awake. “I wasn’t actually going to kill her!!” The older voice cries as they enter the room, and she tentatively reaches out to the surrounding plants for a little bit of water.

“HANNIBAL!!!!!” The younger......the dark-haired man, replies as he trails in after him and ignores the older man’s attempts to justify scaring her a little and hands her a large mug of water. “Look at her, really look Hannibal. Do you think she needs to be scared half to death when she is already sitting at his door?” He asks his mate with a hard glare, and watches as the young woman chugs the water and takes a couple rare deep breaths of relief, until the water is gone but she keeps it tilted back to try to get every last drop. Hannibal reluctantly listens to his younger mate and watches as the young naiad clings to the mug and desperately chugs the liquid down. Both frown as a soft whine comes from her as the last of the water runs down her throat. Her skin appearing to be barely affected by the large quantity of liquid she had just gulped down.

“Will, go get her another one but.... try using some from the lake.” He advises him as he crouches before the girl and carefully takes the mug from her hand, only getting a soft growl in response as it’s tugged from her hands. “Can you tell me what you are or what you are doing here little one?” The question earns him a tired and rather unimpressive glare before a crackling voice slips out of her throat.

“Cassian dragged me here to kill you and your mate.” The honest reply sets the man on edge almost as much as the dry rustling reeds sound that her voice has become. “He owns me after my father sold me for drinking money. I have no choice but to listen, and follow because he holds my true name.” The reedy voice continues, shocking the old wendigo. “I am half naiad, a quarter fairy and a quarter human.” This revelation causing him to look up at the girl and into her dead silver eyes. “If you’re going to eat me please stop giving me false hope by giving me drink and asking about me, as if you care. Please, just kill me.” The dry whisper, the rattling plead is the strongest she has sounded since she entered the forest. 

“He isn’t,” a sharp reply cuts him off from answering and both turn to see an aggravated Will standing in the door with two mugs of water. “I only filled one with the lake water, because I don’t think this will work and you need it.” He murmurs handing her the one filled with lake water first and both watch as she slowly drains the mug and how she begins gaining back her color back. A murmur of thanks falls from her lips as she trades him cups, and sips on the last giant mug of water. “Feeling better?” Will laughs as she carefully puts the half drank mug down for a moment and stretches her no longer creaking bones and joints.

A soft smile flickers across her lips as she nods slowly, and she watches Hannibal as she wearily touches Will’s arm and heals the small gash on his arm. He stares at her in wonder as Hannibal simply nods and lets her see a faint smile of thanks. The strained smile pulling at her lips becomes one of thanks and truer as she pulls her hand away from the shorter man’s arm. Carefully sitting back onto the bed or couch it seems, she listens to Will tell stories of his life before meeting his mate, and all the dogs he had to leave behind.

“She is ours now,” Hannibal murmurs to Will later, as they clean up the kitchen, after she has fallen back asleep. Soon they are out hunting for the supposed hero who had hurt the tiny pixie of a girl they had saved. “Before he dies, we will have her true name, I know that what he calls her isn’t even what her given name is.” He hisses as they stalk through the woods, following the man’s foul stench. Will simply smiles at him before stopping and shooting him the look asking if she had agreed to this and doesn’t get an answer in response. Rolling his eyes, he follows his husband as they shift and get ready to kill the man. Unbeknownst to either of the enraged wendigos she had followed them, and slips into a nearby pond to help herself heal and watch as she gains a new family.

The fight doesn’t last long, a quick appearance and the man gives himself up, but the fun came as the duo shifted back to get her names from the man. “Why? No, she can die with me!! Better than live with murderous monsters like you.” This answer doesn’t please the duo as their nesting and family instincts come rearing their heads. Hannibal picks him up by the front of his shirt and throws him across the small meadow and partly into a nearby pond where, Dulce is hiding.

Acting quickly, she holds his head under until he begins to slow down and then and only then does she let the duo pull him out of the water. Hannibal nods at her minutely and Will gestures for her to come over to him. So as one begins the interrogation again, she slips into the others tight embrace and for the first time in years she feels safe. Will smiles sadly as the girl collapses into his arms and they watch as Hannibal pulls the names from him slowly. After a while Hannibal finally breaks the insufferable man’s neck and drops the body into the lake. Turning to see his family watching him quietly, Will’s eyes filled with love and her eyes filled with relief and gratefulness, he steps up to her and a single word falls from his lips.

“Keres.” A soft gasp pulls itself from her lips as she launches into the man’s blood drenched chest and she lets out a sob of relief. “You are free, our Darya.” He murmurs, letting Will slip into the hug, so that she is surrounded by their smells, and can feel whole for the first time in a long time. Burning tears of blood trail down the girls gaunt face, as Will rains kisses down upon her forehead, and the reality hits her.

“I’m free, I’m free.” She breathes out with a laugh, her voice no longer raspy but like a soft babbling brook. “Thank you,” the whisper rings in their ears like a church bell reminding them of their offer....err well Hannibal’s almost demand.

“Stay, stay here with us.” Hannibal says, the offer of having a family, and a place where she could be herself without fear of being ridiculed, going unspoken but not unrecognized. Will watches his husband carefully to keep him from murdering this girl if her answer isn’t what he wants it to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Her true name,Keres, means goddesses of chaos, and her given name, Darya, means the sea. Where as what Cassian calls her, Dulce, means sweet. For anyone that cares, I can write how she came into Cassians clutches, Just tell me in the comments if y'all would like to know about how they meet.


End file.
